Hold open and closing mechanism for double doors



y 19, 1932- c. PHILLIPS ET AL 1,367,589

HOLD OPEN AND CLOSING MECHANISM FOR DOUBLE DOORS Filed March 7, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 1 3 20 m ni /7 I I3 m I Q I S 26 25 e o I Q 3M 28 Z7 41% 0i l I I 0 0% ll 3 \fl fi 1 23 [1i 0 o o 0 III zz o d3 2 21 H 13 filly [7l4 l2 32 1 a 1 42' L n '4 @Q 3', w 46 a 34 6 3e 35 July 19, 1932- I c.L. PHILLIPS ET AL 1,367,589

HOLD OPEN AND CLOSING MECHANISM FOR DOUBLE DOORS Filed March 7, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICECLAYTON L. PHILLIPS, OF HAMDEN, AND HERBERT E. SPRAGUE, OF NEW HAVEN,CON- NECTICUT, ASSIGNOR-S 'lO SAR-GEN'IVz; COMPANY, OF NEW HAVEN,CONNECTICUT HOLD OPEN AND CLOSING MECHANISM FOR DOUBLE DOORS Applicationfiled March 7,

Our invention relates to hold open and closing mechanism for doubledoors, and more especially to a mechanism for simultaneously opening apair of abutting doors 5 and holding the same in open posit-ion.

Our invention relates especially to doors for refrigerator rooms, but isby no means limited thereto, but is of general utility in any situationwhere double doors or the 10 like may be provided.

In the usual refrigerator room or garage provided with double doors,each door must be opened independently, and independent means is rovidedfor holding the doors 15 in open position. It is in general an object ofthe present invention to provide an arrangement for double doors whereinboth doors maybe opened simultaneously by movement of one of thedoors.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple but efficientmeans for holding a pair of doors in open position.

Still another object of the invention-is to provide a mechanism for the,simultaneous opening of double doors wherein one of the doors is openedahead of the other door and closed after the other door, to prevent'thedoors from becoming jammed.

A still further obiect of theinvention is to provide in a mechanism ofthe above character resilient stop mechanism for limiting the amount'thedoors may be opened,

To these and other ends, the invent-ion 'consists in the novel featuresand combination 3. of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed. Q

In the di awings, t

Fig. 1 is a front elevation ofa: double door arrangement for arefrigerator room or the 40 like having a hold open and closingmechanism, according to our invention a plied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the opposite sides ofthe doors;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along line 33 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 4 and 5 are views similar to Fig. 3, but1 showing the doors indifierent positions; anc

Fig. 6 is a sectionalview along line 6--6 1929. Serial No. 344,968.

a pair of doors 13 and 14 are hingedly mount ed by means of a pair ofvertical rods 15 and 16 which are laterally offset from the adjacentedges of the doors and extend on opposite sides of the opening from theceiling 17 to the floor 18. The upper ends of rods and 16 are rigidlysupported by means of plates 19 and 20 in which the rods are re ceived,plates 19 and 20 being secured to the ceiling 17 in any desired manner,while the lower ends of rods 15 and 16 are supported in plates 21 and22, secured to the floor 18 Mounted on do0rs13 and 14 near thebottomedge thereof and pivotally supported on rods 15 and 16 are hinge arms 23and 24. Near the upper ends 0-fdoors13and 14 are hinge arms 25 and 26,while at an" intermediate point are hinge arms 27 and 28. Hinge arms 23,25 and 27 are pivotally mounted on rod 15 to support door 13 forswinging movement thereon, while hinge arms 24,

26' and 48 are pivotally mounted on rod 16' for swinging movement. Theweightsof the doors are taken up by thrust bearings 29 and 30 interposedbetween hinge arm 23 and plate 21 and hinge arm 24 and plate 22, thethrust bearings not being shown herein in detail.

In the usual arrangement of double doors, it is necessary to open eachdoor independently, and oneof the features of the present inventionresides in an arrangement wherein both doors of a pair of double doorsmay be opened simultaneously upon opening movement of either door. Asuitable means to this end may take the form of a door connecting link31, one end of which is pivotally mounted on a bracket 32, mounted onthe inside of the. door 13, near the upper edge thereof, andsubstantially half way between the inner edge 33 and the outer edge 34,while the other end of link 31 is pivotally supported at 35 on a bracket36 mounted 011 and extending rear-i wardly from door 14 and around doorframe 12, so that the pivotal mounting 35 is spaced rearwardly from door14 a considerable dis tance, and in the present instance issubstantially opposite the rod 16.

Preferably the pivotal mounting on bracket 32 is rearwa-rdly of the linejoining the pivotal mounting 35 and rod 15 when the doors are in closedposition. The meeting edges 37 and 38 of doors 13 and 14 may be notchedor stepped in order to provide a relatively tight joint therebetween,while an overlapping strip 39 may extend longitudinally of the doors,near their meeting edges, for the same purpose. Near the edge 37. ofdoor 13, and at a convenient distance from fioor 18, is a handle 40, bymeans of which doors 13 and 14 may be opened and closed.

Assuming the doors '13 and 14 to be in closed position, as shown inFigs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the opening movements of the doors areas, follows: Door 13 is swung on rod 15 by means of handle 40, the firstmovement of door 13 bringing the pivotal mounting on bracket 32 intoalignment with the pivotal mounting 35 on bracket 36 and rod 15 andtending to urge door 14 still further into closed position. Door 13 maybe swung, until the pivotal mounting on bracket 32 is substantially thesame distance forwardly of the line drawn between rod 15 and pivotalmounting 35 as it is rearwardly thereof in the closed position, beforedoor 14 starts to open, continued movement on the part of door 13swinging door 14 about rod 16, as shown in Fig. 5, and finally into theposition shown in Fig. 4, wherein the doors are fully opened. It will bereadily understood that in closing the movements of the doors arereversed so that door 14 is fully closed ahead of door 13, and thus thestepped edge of door 13 may be received in the stepped edge-of door 14without any possibility of the doors jamming.

It is highly desirable that the doors may be held in open position andanother feature of the invention resides in a simple but efficientarrangement for this purpose.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 2 and 5, the reference numeral 41indicates a rod pivotally mounted. at 42 on bracket 36 and slidablyreceived in sleeve 43 pivotally mounted on link 31,the outer end 44 ofrod 41 being reduced for the reception of a spring clip 45 slidablymounted thereon and urged inwardly on reduced end 44 by means ofcompression spring 46, one end of which bears against clip 45, while theopposite end bears against a nut 47 received on a threaded end 48 of rod41, and by means of which the tension of spring 46 may be adjusted. Thesleeve 43 on its opposite sides is tapered, as at 49 and 50, and beyondthe tapered portions is notched, as at 51 and 52.

The operation of the holding device is as follows: Upon movement of door14 in opening, bracket 36 swings about pivotal mounting 35 angularlyaway from link 31, carrying pivotal mounting 42 with it andreciprocating rod 41 in Sleeve 43. Upon continued movement of door 14,clip 45 comes in contact with sleeve 43, the arms of the clip movingover the tapered sides 49 and 50 of sleeve 43 and into notches 51 and52. Further movement of doors 13 and 14 is resisted by compressionspring 46 against which clip 45 is forced by sleeve 43, the springacting as a resilient stop limiting the opening movement of the doors,

Upon the door being fully opened, the fingers of clip 45 are received innotches 51 and 52 of sleeve 43 frictionally holding the doors againstmovement. In order to close the doors sufficient pressure is brought tobear thereon to disengage the clip 45 from the sleeve 43, whereuponthedoors may be swung freely into closed position.

From the above description of the nature of our invention and of thepreferred embodiment of the same, it will be readily under stood that wehave provided a relatively simple arrangement wherein a pair of doubledoors may be opened simultaneously by movement of one of the doors andin which the doors may be releasably held in open position, the holdingmeans also actmg as a stop resiliently limiting the amount the doors maybe opened. I

It will be further understood that the arrangement is such that jammingof the doors S in opening or closing is relatively impossible.

Our invention is not limited to usewith theform of hinge door mountingshown, nor do we specifically claim herein the novel features of thishinge mounting since these form the subject matter of a separateco-pending application filed by Clayton L. Phillips on March 7, 1929,and bearing the serial number 344,969, now Patent No. 1,799,315, grantedApril 7, 1931.

While we have shown and described a pre- '3 ferred embodiment of ourinvention, it is to be understood that the same is not to be limited-toall, the details shown but is capable of modification and variationwithin the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A mechanism for holding a pair of doors mounted for pivotal movementinto and out of an opening in open position, said mechanism including a.pair of members adapted to be connected to the doors for relativemovement when the doors are opened or closed, and means cooperating withsaid members and adapted to restrain them against relative movement whenthe doors are fully opened, said last named means including a rodpivotally mounted on one of said members, a sleeve pivotally mounted onthe other member in which said rod is slidably received, a U-shape 5 5member sliclably mounted on the rod and having a pair of arms adapted toengage said sleeve, and resilient means for opposing sliding movement ofsaid U-shape member on said rod.

2. A mechanism for holding a pair of doors mounted for pivotal movementinto and out of an opening in open position, said mechanism including apair of members adapted to be connected to the doors for relativemovement when the doors are opened or closed, and means cooperating withsaid members and adapted to restrain them against relative movement whenthe doors are fully opened, said last named means including a rodpivotally mounted on one of said mem bers, a sleeve pivotally mounted onthe other member in which said rod is slidably received, said rod beingprovided with a reduced end forming a shoulder, a U-shape memberslidably mounted on the reduced end of the rod and having a pair of armsadapted to releasably engage said sleeve, said U-shape member normallycontacting with said shoulder, and a coiled spring mounted on the reduced end of the rod and urging said U-shape member against saidshoulder.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 5th day ofMarch, 1929.

CLAYTON L. PHILLIPS. HERBERT E. SPRAGUE.

